The Embodiment of Being

I am here to share this radical idea: The Body does not have to learn to BE.

There is an idea that I have heard throughout my life, that we somehow have to WORK to learn to BE. I have come to understand that this is a basic misunderstanding of HOW we develop.

The Body has ALWAYS known BEingness and at this very moment yearns for the complex YOU to allow it more and more! (Can you hear it whispering, “please oh please oh please”?)

Here is how I view it: Body was conceived into Beingness. One moment you were something - spirit, energy, Divine, nothingness, take your pick - and then the next moment you were the embodiment of Being. In that moment of your conception the cells knew how to Be. They didn’t need an instructor or a book. They knew. They Breathed, taking in nourishment and letting go of what didn’t serve their desire for Life. They accepted the support of Gravity as it sequenced through the Body of your host. They allowed and welcomed growth and change. All of this is what supported You to become the Being that could viably live outside your host mother in your many layered complex form. Your cells then continued to allow and welcome growth and change as you became…the YOU of right now and all that you’ve been.

Today, right now, you can trust that your cells. While having changed their form many times over, they are still as wise as they were in the BEginning. You can trust that they have the capacity to continue to allow and welcome growth and change (as long as your more complex Self doesn’t thwart them in living their deep wisdom!)

The embodiment of BEing is foundational within all of us. It is how we all began.

To connect with the history of the human experience of this deep wisdom we just need look at the way we’ve have created language to try to capture this very experience. The etymology of the word “Be” is “I am”, “I exist” and “I grow”. Similarly the word BEgin derives from roots that mean “to open to existence”.

We are always capable of sensing of BEingness…that is IF we allow ourselves to access the deep wisdoms of the Body, I’m talking about accessing the deep wisdom of the Body in its own right, with its own unique information and not as our Minds conceives of it.

Can you grok this? Do you feel any of your Body’s parts resonate or become more enlivened as you read this idea? Do you feel curiosity and/or desire well up in your tissues?
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I will say it again.

The Body does not have to learn to BE.

We do not have to do anything to BE, other than to allow ourselves to connect with the most foundational experience of our physical embodied Selves.

When we think we have to learn to Be, we forget that it is actually the DOing that we learned and must relearn, unlearn or change to feel more health.

As we grew from that initial tissue into the more complex human form that we most likely still carry with us in some way in this moment, we moved and we engaged with the environment. It is this movement and engagement that invited the mind to began its process of being created.

And it is the mind that was taught to separate our DOing from the foundational support of BEing. It is the mind that was taught to prioritize the DOing. And it is the mind that was taught to dis-embody ourselves, to we make our bodies DO in ways that exhaust and deplete us. (When I say “taught” I am not talking about the intentional lessons of educators. I am talking about everything what we experienced, saw, felt, were told, were subjected to by people, things and situations (well-meaning or otherwise) that formed our understanding of our Selves - then, now and in-between.)

Given this, we are all fully capable of allowing ourselves to be open to embodying our BEingness ALL THE TIME (or at least, opening ourselves to the possibility that we are all fully able to be open to this in some way), even while we are DOing.

And yet, I have learned and observed that it is not an easy thing to reconnect with this foundational aspect of our Selves. The lessons of disembodiment are deep. Our patterns and practices of disembodiment and disconnection are strong and familiar in our culture (and sometimes we have learned to disembody and disconnect for important and valuable reasons that served us at the time!)

In spite of the challenge, it is the practice of reconnecting with the embodiment of BEing that is essential to living our life more fully (in my probably not so humble opinion). It is my experience that one of the keys (if not THE key) to living life with more health, ease, confidence, creativity, and compassion (to name a few of the benefits) is this practice of connecting to one’s sensory, moving, breathing, living Body in whatever ways are possible in this moment and in each moment.

If you are curious and want support exploring and reconnecting with your sense of your foundational BEing Self, contact me.

Blessings. Victoria aka DidiAletheia

"Being in the Present": What does this mean?

I recently had someone say to me, "what do you mean when you invite me to 'be in the present'? I'm right here, aren’t I? How can I not be in the present?"

And while it is true that your body IS always here, as a noun, a “thing”, it is not always actively present as a verb. The body is always trying to be actively present right here in this moment as a living, sensing, moving being because that is how it was designed, however, without an active practice of allowing your body to be fully living, sensing and moving (known as the act of embodiment) your mind can easily convince your body that it is NOT in the present. This is because we’ve all been deeply deeply trained to disconnect from the body and to let our Selves be led by the mind. Without practice the physical Self can lose its ability to stay connected or return to the present real experiences of this moment, and will yield to your mind’s beliefs and thoughts of the past or of the future as IF these are what is real right now, while they are not.

While this experience of feeling the past or future as if it is happening right now can be a wonderful way to relive and reconnect with the sensations of a fond memory or to anticipate a future hoped for event, it can also be the foundation for incredible unease and dis-ease in the body, especially if one’s memories or expectations are of danger and overwhelm.

As a somatic movement therapist, I believe that deepening one’s capacity to actively BE in the body as a living, breathing, sensing, moving experience with more and more ease is essential for spiritual, physical and mental health.

Because I believe this, I invite you to consider prioritizing the practice of embodiment in your life.

What does that mean, you might wonder?

Let’s explore!

if you would prefer to explore with video support, check out these videos on my Youtube channel, and if you like what you see, please subscribe!

Feeling Your Body

Checking in: Experiencing the Body in the Present Moment

Letting Go of the Hungry Mind

Otherwise, I invite you to join me now in this written guided embodiment practice:

I invite you to Pause.

Right now.

I invite you to stop reading for a moment and let yourself notice where your mind's focus is, without judgement.

And when you return to this reading, I invite you to give yourself permission to take note - was the thing your mind was focused on about you and the environment you are experiencing right in this moment or was it about something that is outside of what was actually present in the moment?

Whatever you noticed, I invite you to let go of anything the mind is focused on that is not right with now, in this moment.

I invite you to let your mind practice focusing on the experience of the breath and then let the experience of your breath soften. Let your breath go.

let your eyes gently close or rest softly on an object on the room that causes your body to feel neutral or pleasant or safe, until you are ready to return to this guided practice.

As you return to the reading, I invite you to let go of any thoughts that arose and pulled you out of this present and then return your awareness to your breath. Let it go with a gentle sigh, and perhaps a yawn

invite your focus to shift from reading at the end of this paragraph and to shift to the experience of your physical weighted body being supported right now. Feel the experience of being in contact with the bed or the couch or the chair or the floor and, ultimately, by gravity. Notice the sensations you notice. Allow yourself to soften into the support and, when ready, allow yourself to continue to feel the support when you choose to return to the reading.

As you return to the reading, I invite you to honor the sensations you are noticing, even as you read. Be curious. Again, shift your attention from this reading after this paragraph and give your sensations and all your body parts permission to move, if that is what they desire in this moment. Give them permission to breathe and sigh and sound. Give them permission to open and/or close, to stretch or to tighten. Repeat this until you feel a little bit of satisfaction, a little bit of ease, a little bit of ease, until your body is ready for your eyes to return to reading.

Give yourself permssion to let go some more.

Each time a thought comes up that is not about this moment, let it go.

Invite yourself to let go of reading to return, over and over again, to the practice being present with the sensations of the experience of your breath moving into and out of your body, and the sensations of the experience of your physical body receiving the grounded energy of the planet, and with the sensations of the experience of what you are seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching, in this present moment, even as your also focusing on reading this blog post.

I invite you to give yourself permssion to practice being present with yourSelf and your physical environment right now for as long as you desire.

And when you decide that the time to finish reading this blog post and exploring this practice with this guidance, I invite you ask yourself these questions:

”Do I feel any different - in my spirit, my body and/or in my mind?”

“Has anything changed from when I started reading this blog?”

“Did I feel any challenges?”

I’d love to hear your answers. Whatever you experienced, please know that this practice is not only valuable, but essential for spiritbodymimd health!

If you’d like more guided support in your practice of living, breathing, sensing and moving more fully and with more ease - whether as an individualize or in a group - please contact me for more information.

Cultivating the State of BEing, an embodiment practice

My favorite line from this meme is "become, unfold, tense and unfold again". It really resonates.

For me, the juicy stuff of my life, personally and professionally, lies in my capacity to be ever more fully in the experience of the transitions. When I read this line from this meme, I don’t simply resonate with the idea of these three states of action - of Becoming, Unfolding and Tensing. I resonate with the images and sensations that arise for me as I imagine the experience of moving each one, and from one to the other.

For me, growth is about being able to notice, in deeper and deeper ways, my patterns and to explore ways to move within, around and between these patterns.

For me, learning happens when we recognize our patterns and allow ourselves to explore and play with them.

For me, doing this sort of deep play and exploration can only be done from a sense of safety. Being in my embodied sense of safety is what allows me to not only do an action with my full Self but to also to be more fully in the experience of moving, to be completely in the process of shifting from one action to another, of moving with, around and between the patterns and to never become unsafe. Because of this personal (and professional) practice of starting from a sense of safety, I'm inclined to change the language of this meme just a bit.

For me, the process of becoming, unfolding, tensing and unfolding again is more accurately described as this:

Be.

Allow movement.

Notice the edge where you begin to resist and allow yourself to be right there.

Be curious.

Notice what you can notice.

Learn what you can learn.

Be.

Once you notice that you are satisfied (or possibly bored),

change something.

Allow space and time for continued curiosity.

Repeat. Over and over again.

This, for me, is the practice of embodiment. It is the process of somatic movement therapy. It is the template for all healing. It is an invaluable practice to cultivate.

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While I was journaling and moving and exploring in the process of refining the original phrase so that it better suited me, I felt inspired to create a guided embodiment practice for myself. The result is the attached twelve minute audio recording. I appreciated this so much for myself that I wanted to share it with you.

I hope you will explore with my guidance.
I hope you will share your comments below.

And if you find this inspiring and you’d like to take your practice deeper or wider or fuller with support, I hope you will contact me about setting up a thirty minute free consultation to discuss the possibility of working together.

Regards and blessings. - Victoria
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Special thanks to my friends at Kindred Collective who originally shared this meme on their Facebook and Instagram pages.

My Process of Getting to Know the Moon, February 2021

At the most recent Winter Solstice I made a commitment to myself to deepen my understanding of and relationship with the Moon.

I don’t really remember when I first met the Moon. She has just always been there. I don’t remember when I learned that the Moon orbits the Earth and that the Moon controls the tides or when someone taught me about the relationship between the Moon’s cycle and the one happening in my younger woman’s body each month. All of these pieces of information have been in me for a long time; however, at Yule I committed to deepen my understanding of Her movement and energies, with a special curiosity about the reason for and the effects of the darkening phase of the Moon in each month.

I realize now - although I wasn’t aware of this consciously in December - that this desire to have a deeper, more aware relationship with Mother Moon is part of a larger process I’m always and will forever be a part of: the process of deepening my knowledge, understanding and experience of embodiment.

I have to admit, I have struggled in this particular cycle of the Moon that started as New on January 14th after a two day period of Darkness and then reached its Full face of light and brightness on January 29th.

My feelings of struggling have increased as the Moon has darkened. The struggle has manifested in multiple ways. Poor quality of sleep. Sheer exhaustion by early evening followed by waking fully in the middle of the night. Intense dreams. Unusual lethargy in the morning. A lack of motivation to explore my regular practices that, usually, I approach with fondness, if not actual glee.

And through all of this struggle I’ve been doing my best to explore the lesson that I believe the Moon offers us in this particular cycle: the experience of Grounded Uplift.

I was quite excited to begin this cycle of exploration. I remember thinking, as we wrapped up the last Dark Moon Sister-Circle, that grounded uplift was gonna be my jam! And for a bit it was. I even created a video for my Youtube channel about Core Awareness and moving from the Core that was inspired by my ponderings of this concept of grounded uplift. And then the Full Moon passed and since then life has felt challenging. At first I thought it was simply the normal winter season blahs that I usually feel in late January/early February; however, I realized that this experience has more of a quality of Pull to it. I feel pulled off my center. I feel as if I’m trying to Pull myself into the future more quickly than is possible. Meditating on this sense of Pull, I connected it with the energies of La Luna.

You may have heard people say “We are all connected.” I myself have been using the tagline “Remember, we are all in this together.” as I end most of my Embodiment videos I create for Youtube. I realized Interconnectedness was what I needed to slow down and give attention to: it seems so simple now that I have realized it

“Of course…I am connected to the Earth and the Moon is connected to the Earth and so…oh yeah, the Moon is connected to me. Interconnectedness. Wow.”

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To help me explain to you a bit more deeply how all this fits together I am going to shift focus and share a bit with you about my studies in movement, somatics and embodiment. If this isn’t of interest to you, I invite you to jump down to the next line of asterisks!

Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) is a observational framework to help me observe, experience, language and explore the body in movement (my own body, other bodies, bodies moving in their environment). I have been studying this framework at a very deep and high level for over a decade.

BodyMind Psychotherapy (BMP) is a “simple, user-friendly approach to working with the body in psychotherapy.” I have been self-studying BMP for more than a decade and am currently in the Level One Certification program. In BMP I am deepening my understanding of the value of and the practices of being fully present in the energetic physical sensory system I recognize as “my body”. I am exploring this work for my own personal deepening as well as to expand my capacity to be more fully present while in relationship with all of my different type of clients.

I realized just this morning that in my commitment to be more present and aware of the Moon, I am calling on facets of both of these frameworks. I use LMA when I am actively observing the ways She moves in Her own rotation as well as how She moves in Her orbit through Space around Earth. Like in both LMA and BMP, I am also being invited to pay attention to the way that Her presence and energy has effects on the environment as well as on Me as a part of this interconnected ecosystem.

In my studies in LMA, I have learned a “whole, part, whole” approach that allows me to have a better understanding of movement in any given context. This involves having a big picture idea of what you are exploring, observing or learning so that as you explore and learn about and from the parts you can then bring this awareness back to the whole so that, ultimately, you are in a dynamic spiral of deepening your understanding of both the whole system and the parts involved!

In BMP, we actively explore the Body Systems from an anatomical, physiological and psychological perspective. We use the “whole, part, whole” approach to bring our attention to what we experience as we attend to our Whole selves from the perspective of each body system as it relates to itself and to the Whole.

Wow, THAT was a lot of words. Never fear! I invite you to take a breath and know it is okay if your cognitive brain feels overfull or on sideways (as one of my dear friends describes it!) I invite you to take another breath and read on when you are ready if you’d like to deepen your understanding of all these words/concepts from an embodiment perspective.

If the idea of deepening your understanding resonates inside of you, I invite you to take twenty to thirty minutes to explore this practice:

First, allow five minutes to Check-in with your eternal resources of support. (the blue video link will take you to a guided experience, if you don’t know what this means.)

Then allow yourself five minutes or so to move in relationship with your Skin, ALL of it, every inch! (If this sort of movement feels challenging to you, I invite you to simply imagine the experience of moving with your Skin as if it is the leader of your dance.)

When you are done moving, take a two to three minutes to journal about anything you noticed as you moved/imagined or as you observe the effects of the experience. Possible things you might notice are a change in your vibe, a shift in the awareness of your sense of the size of your Whole or of your Parts. You might have noticed images, sensations, rhythms, stories, emotions, temperature, color or some other experience uniquely your own. Write it down without (too much) cognitive analysis!

Then Check-in again and clear your somatic palate. Settle. When you feel as if you are ready for another experience, allow yourself five minutes or so to move in relationship with your Bones, all the parts of your skeletal system. (Again, if movement does not feel safe or accessible, then I invite you to imagine letting your bones lead the dance.)

When you are done moving/imagining, again take a two to three minutes to journal about anything you noticed or notice as you write.

What did you notice about moving in relationship with your Skin? your Bones? How did the experiences differ? How were they similar? (‘d love for you to share in the comments!)

I have shared this with you because this type of understanding is interwoven in my story of my struggle this month and I appreciate the opportunity to support you in your own experience with my perspective/approach, if this is/was of interest to you.

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To return more directly to my process with getting to know the Moon and embracing the dark in this cycle:

When I started my focused exploration of this concept of Grounded Uplift some three weeks ago (oh my, it seems like months have passed since then!) I understood this exploration to be simply about the balance of energies between gravity and levity. In other words, I initially approached this as an exploration of the physicality of balancing those two dynamic stresses. To allow myself to experience the unconditional loving force of gravity that is essential for me to be in relationship with Grounded Support (as I mention in the Check-in video mentioned in the practice above) while also tending the experience of the kinetic energies that invite me to lift upward and support me to be an upright, moving being.

What I did not take into account in my oh-so cognitive/physical approach to this exploration is that I am relationship with the Moon just as the Earth is. Her energies PULL on the Earth’s fluids. Yes, she pulls on the oceans and lakes of the Earth and this means that She also pulls on the fluids in my body as well. Not only does she affect the blood pulsing in my veins, moving with each beat of my heart but her energy pulls on all the Parts of my entire Fluid system (yet another Body System!)

And whether we consciously realize it or not, our fluid system is intricately related with our Nervous System and our Emotions.

And although I did not realize it earlier in this moon cycle, the Moon has firmly and insistently reminded me of all of this connection in this last week. Was my nervous system affected? Yep. My emotions? Check. My inner tides? Oh yeah. Sleep? Yep. Mood? Yes yes yes!

Mother Moon has guided me to BE in the struggle. She has pushed and pulled me to shift my perspective, to more actively notice all the Parts of my process, parts that were disparate and disconnected three weeks ago. She has guided and continues to guide me (as the process is in no way completed) to, ultimately, have a deeper, richer understanding of all my Parts (Moon, Body, Movement, Spirit, Counseling Support, Therapy, Education, Meditation, Nature, Somatic Abolition, relationships, living life fully, LMA, BMP and and and…) and their relationship with my Whole.

It has been a struggle and yet in this uncomfortable experience She has helped me see that I have a pattern (that I cannot yet verbalize) that I would like to release: a pattern that can deprive me of my capacity to embody, to FEEL the Grounded Uplift dynamic that is always available to me…and to all of us. A pattern that she is inviting me to release (or at least, the parts that I am able) in this Darkening time, even as I write this blog post.

It is with this energy and understanding that I will be joining with you, my Sisters. Together we will blend all of our ideas, energies and desires about Grounded Uplift during this darkening of the moon cycle.

I look forward to gathering together to move, meditate and share in this month’s Embracing the Dark: A Sister-Circle Darkening Moon Meditation.

(If you are reading this after February 7th and feel called to join me in my Embodiment explorations, please check my website for upcoming events that may be of interest.